Samsung Announces UFS 4.0 Flash Storage With Doubled Bandwidth

Samsung is working on UFS 4.0 flash storage, an improved version of the UFS 3.1 flash storage now used in smartphones. UFS 4.0 can sequentially read at up to 4200MB/s and sequentially write up to 2800MB/s, both doubling from 3.1.

UFS 4.0 uses Samsung’s seventh-generation v-nand and a proprietary controller. Samsungs Semiconductor branch writes about doubling the bandwidth per lane and says that 4.0 can handle up to 23.2Gbit/s per lane. This storage is not only suitable for smartphones, but also for the automotive industry and AR and VR applications, the company says.

In addition to being faster, the new storage chip is also more efficient, according to Samsung. The company speaks of a sequential read speed of 6MB/s per mA. This is a 46 percent improvement over UFS 3.1.

UFS 4.0 comes in ‘different sizes’ up to 1TB and the storage is up to 11x13x1mm. UFS 3.1 is always 11.5x13mm in size and a maximum of 1.72mm thick. Samsung says UFS 4.0 has already been approved by the Jedec and expects to start mass production in the third quarter of this year. It is not known in which smartphones UFS 4.0 will appear. Samsung uses the storage in its own phones and also supplies it to third-party smartphone manufacturers.